Paddling Rainbow Lake

Today was the traditional Memorial Day paddle and picnic, so there were 19 boats paddling Rainbow Lake.  We put in off Clark Wardner Road at the southwest end of the lake and shuttled cars to the northeastern end of Rainbow Narrows on Kushaqua Mud Pond Road.  We paddled up the Flow then into Clear Pond then through the esker to a campsite on Rainbow Lake for lunch.  After lunch we headed down the lake toward the narrows.  There was a lot of wind behind us so we were glad we had the cars at the other end.  When we got to the underpass leading to the narrows things got interesting.  Just looking through under the road you could see that end of the lake was several inches higher than the water we were on.  There must have been lots of water coming down the North Branch of the Saranac River.  The current was very swift.  A few brave and very strong folks managed to get through, helped in some cases by a hardy soul who waded into the breach and helped pull some boats along.  Most of us got out on a handy dock, dragged our boats up over the road, and walked down the road a ways before finding a place we could get back in.  With that many boats it took us some time.  Nothing like an adventure paddle to work up an appetite.  Then we headed to our hosts' home for a leisurely visit and picnic.